I was skeptical about reading a book on the war before its even over, but this one really impressed me. Harding does a good job of bringing you up to speed if you haven’t been following the conflict closely, and I was really impressed by how deftly he was able to slip in and out of time without confusing the reader. The contemporary firsthand accounts were endlessly fascinating; the sheer volume of people he was able to speak to, in so many places, speaks to the skill of his reporting. I definitely found myself getting emotional at times, much more often than I expected, though usually it was hopeful tears. I’ll be reading a lot more about Ukraine going forward, and I’m glad I started off here.